


Friends by Association

by yukiscorpio



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-24
Updated: 2013-09-24
Packaged: 2017-12-27 11:45:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/978493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yukiscorpio/pseuds/yukiscorpio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If he can't have friends, then they just won't be friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friends by Association

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Hunter x Hunter shortfic written for Round 1 of trail_hunter on LJ.
> 
> Originally published on LJ on 24 December 2008.

Nobody reacted when they heard the sound, a low and hollow rumble that meant the large gate was being opened. Footsteps followed. It was late at night but there were no rules on what time newcomers were brought in. And anyone who might have protested about the disturbance were already "asleep".

Two men walked in the darkness, the one in front wearing uniform and leading the other, whose wrists and ankles were shackled, dragging a thick metal chain on tiled floor. Aided by a torch, they arrived at one of the cells that lined the corridor. A rattling of keys later, the new arrival was pushed inside.

_Pi!_

The uniformed guard fell to the floor, completely motionless. The torch rolled away from slack fingers and the newcomer picked it up. He shone it through the bars, across the corridor, at the occupant of the cell opposite. There was a man sitting cross-legged on the floor. The gate to his cell was open, the same as the newcomer's.

A pair of eyes looked straight into the light.

The newcomer sat down on the cold concrete floor and put the torch down, letting a beam of light shine in a random direction. "A little late to still be so wide-eyed," he commented casually.

"I have a business appointment."

"I see. So have I." When the newcomer smiled, he looked young and completely innocent, not the sort of man anyone would think to find in a high-security holding facility. "What business is it that you do?"

The other man brought a finger to his lips. He appeared to be thinking, although his eyes never moved. "Ah, it's quite difficult to explain; no one ever asked me that before."

"Self-employed?"

"Um. You could say that. I am a... contractor? I guess."

The newcomer chuckled lightly as if he was amused by the uncertainty displayed. "Well, I run my own business."

"An employer?"

"More-or-less. I work with my friends. They like to call me 'Boss'."

For a while there was no response from the other man, who stared forward as if looking at something nobody else could see. After some time, he muttered, "that's strange."

"What is?"

"You call the people you work with 'friends'?"

"That is the arrangement. Though it's not something that suits everyone."

"I suppose as long as you remain in a pre-defined position..." the man seemed to be thinking out loud, "how you address them doesn't really matter..."

The newcomer studied this attitude as he scratched his head through the bandages wrapped around it. Some of his short black hair was trapped between the layers of gauze, the tips poking out in odd directions. He didn't seem to mind. It was the man in the opposite cell that held his interest at this moment. "Is there a problem?"

The other man's eyes never moved or even blinked, but somehow he looked bothered. "This is troublesome. I cannot have friends."

"And that means?"

"I would have to pull out of the deal. But that is something I do not do, either, unless I remove the client."

"Removing the client? I see."

"Which would be even more troublesome." Long black hair, straight and wire-like, moved when the man tipped his head to one side in thought. "Ah, what to do?"

Once again the newcomer let his neighbour muse over this. In the meantime, his hand run over the metal around his legs, fingers gripping the cuff and pulling. There was a snap, and the shackle came apart. He repeated this with his other leg, then pulled at the chain between his wrists. That, too, broke like it was made of cheap plastic.

"I have a suggestion," he said. He started to remove the bandage from his head. "As they say - what's in a name?"

"As who say?"

The newcomer snorted. He ran a hand through his hair, now free from the bandages. There was a scar - or was it a tattoo? - hidden under the fringe that was just long enough to fall into his eyes. "Don't worry about that. But if you don't like 'friends', you can always have 'business associates'."

"Oh." The other man said with what sounded like feigned surprise, but that could just be the way his voice was. "And that's different?"

"Yes."

"I see."

"You can work for me now, can't you?" Standing up, the newcomer dusted his trousers quickly. He stepped out of his cell, over the guard's body. "Shall we go and discuss the finer details of the job? We need to go and meet up with Hisoka."

The other man stood as well. "Hisoka?"

"One of my employees, though this one I am hesitant to call a 'friend'. You know him?"

"He is a..." the man thought for a brief moment, "...business associate."

"Saves time on introductions then."

They departed, leaving dead bodies in their wake.

 

 

[end]


End file.
